Storms and Sweetness
by Irish Thorn
Summary: A sweet little one-shot written for the May 2012 monthly challenge over at the Twin Exchange. Warning: there will be fluff.


_Disclaimer: I don't own anything, JKR owns all._

_Just a short one-shot that I wrote for the May monthly challenge over at the Twin Exchange. If you like it, go vote!_

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She was lost. Well, of course she was lost! She's never been to a tropical island in her life! And apparently, neither has Fred. Why did she bring Fred with her? Because, for some ungodly reason, she was in love with the git. It was his idea to go somewhere just the two of them, and he picked a muggle cruise. They were currently standing on the most beautiful beach she'd ever seen. Deep, green-blue water, smooth waves, brown sand from where the water lapped at the shore, palm trees as far as the eye could see in three directions, uninterrupted ocean as far as the eye could see in the other.

The sound of waves coming in reached her ears, seagulls swarmed overhead. Hermione Granger, brightest witch of the age, stood amidst it all trying to prevent the maiming of her boyfriend. Fred Weasley was supposedly looking around for some way to leave, she was supposed to be finding a way to flag down the cruise ship that was anchored offshore. She could see it, she really could. It was the ship that her and Fred had been on when he got the bright idea to jump over the side. She could only think one thing as she jumped after him: _he better not be dead when I get there!_ When she saw that he was okay, but no one could hear them yelling for help, they came to shore so they wouldn't drown. All she could think about when Fred grinned stupidly at her was: _I'm going to kill him myself!_

Needless to say, Hermione wasn't having a good day. Just when she was thinking about using her wand to get back to the ship, Fred came into view. He was smiling, but he was always smiling. That stupid shit-eating grin that she loved. At the moment though, she hated that grin.

"Well, love, we are alone on this island." She wanted to kill him. Why was he happy about being alone? How were they supposed to get back on the stupid ship. She had already tried apparating, but she couldn't leave the damn island.

"Then why are you smiling?" Hermione was genuinely pissed off. Fred held out a handful of gray fluff that she hadn't realized that he was hiding behind his back. The fluff started moving, causing her to jump. "What is that thing?" Fred started laughing uncontrollably. The fluff made a lunge for Hermione. She threw her hands up in front of her on instinct, and caught the thing. Upon closer inspection, it was a tiny kitten.

"Isn't she cute?" Hermione was in awe. Someone had left a kitten? That didn't even make sense.

"Where did she come from? Are their other people on the island?" Fred's smile dropped a bit.

"No, love. We are really alone. Well, besides Sheba here." He scratched the kitten's head.

"Sheba?"

"Yeah, she looks like a Sheba." Hermione smiled at his explanation. He really was one of a kind, well, if you didn't count George anyway.

"Fred, we need to go home." She didn't want to stay on this island. She would go home in that instant if she could. Fred just shook his head and headed off into the trees. Not knowing what else to do, she followed. They walked in silence for awhile, maybe fifteen minutes, when she couldn't handle it any longer. "Where are we going?"

"It's not much further, love." Was Fred's vague answer. Hermione sighed in annoyance, but continued to pet the now purring kitten in her hands. Fred was right, it was only a few more minutes until they got to a clearing, and he stopped walking. He turned to her and looked intently into her eyes. Her breath hitched. What was he doing?

"What is it, Fred?" Her voice was harsh the lack of breathing she was doing. Fred's gaze never wavered.

"I love you." It wasn't the first time he'd said it to her, but she melted just the same. A grin spread across her face, and she leaned in for a kiss. Fred stayed out of her reach though, much to her chagrin. "Let me finish. I love you, and I want to be with you forever. I want to marry you, once we get off this island. If you'll have me?"

She was dumbfounded. _Now? Was he really asking now?_ She didn't know what to say. She loved him. They'd been dating for a few years now. She wanted to marry him. Well, then; decision made.

"Yes." His grin was boyish, causing her to smile as well. The kitten in her arms made her presence known just as they were leaning in to kiss. The two laughed and shared a quick peck. Definitely not the stuff fireworks are made of. The two were smiling at each other, a slight breeze blowing through the palm branches above them.

"Want to go try to flag down the ship again?" He asked, still smiling softly.

"Yeah, let's go." They took off back the way they came, neither of them noticing the storm picking up around them. By the time they made it back to the beach, the ship was gone and sand was being whipped up around them. The waves were crashing up against the shore, and the black clouds in the sky didn't bode well. "What do we do now?" Hermione yelled over the sounds of the storm. Just as Fred was going to answer her, it started raining. The kitten in her hand was thrashing about, so she cuddled it closer to her body.

"What? Only if I have a monkey in my pocket?" Fred looked suitably confused but brushed it off and grabbed her hand. "Come on!" He started running. When they were about half way through the woods, he stopped and pulled her body flush against his. With a resounding _pop!_ they were gone from the area. They reappeared right outside of the Burrow, Fred's parents' house. Hermione was astounded.

"What the hell just happened? I couldn't disapparate when I tried earlier!" She would have continued her rant, but decided to actually wait for an answer.

"I wanted to ask you to marry me somewhere romantic. I thought you'd like the tropical island." Fred looked rather disappointed. He'd honestly thought she'd enjoy herself. Hermione deflated. He'd concocted the whole scheme for her. It was really sweet. The kitten must be because Crookshanks had passed away a few months back. The whole thing really was a sweet gesture.

"I would have said yes anytime, anywhere. I would always say yes to you." Hermione was looking expectantly at her fiancé. He grinned broadly at her, swooping in for a kiss.

"Where was I? Oh yeah, I love you," he whispered against her lips. She smiled back.

"I love you, too."

And so it was in midst of tropical storm, hundreds of miles away, that Hermione Granger and Fred Weasley shared a passionate kiss. Both of them wearing soaking wet clothes from said storm. A small, equally wet, mewling ball of fluff being squished between them.

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_Please review!_


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